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It’s a frightening statistic for parents: motor-vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for children
under 14. Although it seems only natural that a parent would do all they can for their children’s safety, studies show that people don’t always know what’s safe, or
they simply don’t use safety restraints properly. Child car-seat laws and the involvement of a federal agency, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration,
help to raise awareness about proper use of the devices that reduce injury and death of our precious little passengers.
The NHTSA works with the
manufacturers of cars and child car seats alike to uphold the quality of safety seats and assure
their ease of use. In 2002 they implement the LATCH (Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children) system to standardize safety-seat installation for optimal simplicity
and protection, and the safety seats themselves must carry an approval seal. Although the use of approved safety restraints is mandatory throughout the U.S., it’s
up to each individual state (as well as Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico) to maintain its own set of laws covering children in cars. The guidelines are generally
uniform for children under 40 pounds and four years of age, but variations among the states come up with older children, relative to booster seats and riding in
front seats.
Generally these laws are well thought-out, but if you look more thoroughly there are a few surprises; for
instance, children are allowed to ride in the cargo area of pickup trucks in exactly half of the 50 states (sometimes with age and other restrictions). Examples of
other types of exemptions include allowing a child to be unrestrained during emergency situations, situations where the child’s physical needs (such as nursing) are
being met, or when all seatbelts are already in use.
Perhaps these are older laws that need a fresh look from legislators, but on the surface some don’t seem
aimed at anyone’s best interest. If not enough seats with restraints are available then isn’t the vehicle simply overcrowded and therefore unsafe? Marine police on
patrol look issue citations for overcrowded boats, and a passenger plane would never be permitted to fly unless each passenger had a seat with proper restraints. So
why should an overloaded car be okay? Sure, most of today’s parents likely spent a good deal of car time on someone’s lap or completely unrestrained in the back of
a station wagon; car seats were nonexistent, uncommon, or unheard of, and certainly not required by law. Of course, there are more cars than ever on the road today,
and speed limits—and risks—are higher.
These days families often feel they must change their vehicle when a second or third child is born, in order
to properly accommodate the child seats. Sport-utility vehicles have stolen the thunder from station wagons, but despite their size, most SUVs do not have a
third-row seat, at least not one that will accommodate a child seat (many are foldaway jumpseats). The second-row seats of most vehicles, SUVs included, are not
built to handle any configuration other than a child safety seat on each window side—the somewhat safer middle area of the seat in the great majority of cars is too
narrow or it lacks the proper seatbelt or LATCH attachments. This is part of the reason minivans have exploded in popularity: they were developed with families in
mind, with second and third rows of child-friendly seating designed for ease of use for both parent and child.
If you’re not sure you’re
using your child’s safety restraints properly, go to a government-sponsored fitting station; you can find a list of them at
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cps/cpsfitting/index.cfm . Review your state’s child-restraint laws as well
as the laws in any state you’ll be driving in. You can find this information with just a little bit of research, either by phone or via the Internet. Call the
Department of Motor Vehicles in the pertinent state or consult its website. You can also find all states’ laws in one place by going to the NHTSA website (Appendix
C: State Child Restraint Laws): (http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/airbags/OccupantProtectionFacts/appendixc.htm)
or the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) website:
http://www.iihs.org/laws/ChildRestraint.aspx
Purchase a quality car seat at a great price here!
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